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| Sunday, 21 April 2002 |
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Amidst protests Oil palm to replace rubber ? by CHAMIKARA WEERASINGHE The Rubber Research Institute (RRI), local government bodies and several environment pressure groups, have opposed the introduction of oil palm cultivations into rubber areas. The move by the Plantation Industries Ministry to diversify the country's traditional rubber plantations in the South has raised protests from these quarters. The ministry has approved certain plantations to uproot six per cent of its rubber cultivation and have oil palm cultivations, based on a feasibility report by the Coconut Research Institute. As a result some plantation management companies managing rubber estates in the South, have reportedly uprooted their rubber plantations and are in the process of planting oil palm. The Coconut Research Institute (CRI) has already begun clearing 20,000 hectares for oil palm cultivations, mainly from rubber lands in the South, the 'Sunday Observer' learns. As pointed out by RRI Director Dr. L.M.K. Tillekeratne that the ministry and the CRI have opened a Pandora's box that can lead to severe ecological, social and economical impacts by launching into farming oil palm at the expense of the country's traditional rubber cultivations. "In fact, the CRI has taken up this task without a proper environmental impact assessment or a management plan," Dr. Tillekeratne said criticizing the feasibility report of the CRI concerning oil palm cultivations in the country saying that it was done by a group of agronomists and agriculture economists of the CRI collecting data in oil palm growing areas in the South for two days. The report says that the people living in oil palm growing areas had told them that existing cultivations have adversely affected underground water levels and surface water in streams in them. The CRI seniors have, however, denied that saying that there were no scientific evidence to support their opinion. Meanwhile, The Environmental Foundation (EF) points out that oil palm can cause water and river pollution loss of land to indigenous people, loss of bio-diversity, soil erosion and ultimately deforestation. "As the Oil palms get older it requires more fertilizer for sustenance. After 15 years the trees produce little oil, and are replaced. The tree sucks in more water from the soil, which means that the villagers are forced to find new homes because they can no longer find fresh water, greens and roots, nor grow crops," explained EF officials. "Given that most existing oil palm cultivations are ageing and new plantations are to be set up in forest areas, this threat is likely to expand in the future, deforestation and replacements of diverse eco-systems by large-scale palm monoculture will thus deprive local people of the products and services they get from the forest," they said. |
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